A Detroit-area man who won a $42 million Mega Millions jackpot plans to retire from Chrysler and become a pecan farmer in Georgia.
Chris Crane, 51, was given a ceremonial check Friday at the Michigan Lottery headquarters in Lansing.
The resident of Macomb County's Washington Township told reporters he will leave his job as a Chrysler service engineer within weeks.
"I always wanted to do a little bit of farming," said Crane, who has some property in Georgia. "This will be my chance."
His 47-year-old wife, Tina, an X-ray technician for 30 years, also plans to retire. Her dream is to start a horse ranch for disabled children.
The Cranes, who have four children, plan to get the winnings over time rather than taking a lump-sum cash payment, which they worried could be hard to handle. The first payment is $1.65 million before taxes followed by annual pretax payments of $1.61 million for 25 years.
Asked if he would go out and celebrate immediately with an expensive dinner, Chris Crane said he probably would not.
"We'll probably just kind of take it easy for a while, sit back and just kind of soak everything in."
The first big purchase will be a Chrysler Town & Country minivan for Tina because that is "what she wants," Chris Crane said. He wants a red Challenger, the new retro-style muscle car created by Dodge.
He has played the same Mega Millions numbers regularly for a couple years, spending $20 twice a week on lottery tickets. The most he had ever won before was $7.
He found out he hit it big after returning home Saturday from a "mom-to-mom" sale, a garage sale-type event held at a local school. He got on the Internet, saw the lottery numbers matched and thought, "Who's the practical joker around here?"
He woke up his wife, who works the midnight shift.
"She looked at me with these big, huge, bloodshot eyes and was like, 'Mister, this better not be a joke."'
The next day at church, the Cranes were "giving a lot of thanks," he said.
He is the eighth Michigan winner since the 12-state game began in 2002. The jackpot is Michigan's sixth-largest.
He bought the winning ticket at the Stoney Creek Liquor Shoppe in Washington Township, which will get $50,000 for selling it. The Cranes plan to become snowbirds and split their time between Michigan and Georgia.
Lottery Commissioner M. Scott Bowen said it was refreshing to see "nice people" like the Cranes win, especially because he said they talked about tithing some of their proceeds to churches. Overall in Michigan and elsewhere, lottery sales are down slightly because of the economy, Bowen said.
They seem to have things all planned out. Congrats to them!
I think thats great. A big winner needs to have plans to do something to keep them occupied. And they will be real busy with a farm and horses. If you get bored, the idea of "lets go spend some more" might come into play. Congrats to them!!!!!!!!!!
Just a couple of years playing the same numbers is pretty good! Some play for years and years with nothing. BUT I don't think I personally could afford $40 a week in tickets. But I guess if you can afford it, why not!
WTG!
Congrats to the Cranes. Follow your dreams!
wow...........what a beautiful story. I wish them all the best.
i like pecans
I am surprised that not many Americans see real estate as the viable investment.
I am a Korean. Koreans are very conscious about land properties, since my people have lived in a very mountainous region with few flat lands. My parents built their marginal wealth by investing in real estate. Heck 99% of rich Koreans made their fortune from real estate!
I really don't want to say this, but many Korean see that Americans are not really investment-saavy.
If I were in his shoes, I would invest in farming from THE INCOMES COMING FROM A COMMERCIAL PROPERTY OR TWO.
Real estate can be an excellent investment as long as you're careful and it's well thought out. Personally, I wouldn't want to get involved with renting because I wouldn't want to deal with all the headaches that can bring. For commercial property I'd rather be the one selling it, though after taking some business and other courses perhaps I'd build if I found a good location and was interested in doing it.
Not exactly the best time do that now, though buying land when prices bottom out would not be a bad thing. It's all about timing and calculated risk.
Congratulations to the lucky couple. I hope that they will keep their dreams intact and act on them as they had planned. Large sums of money and nay sayers have a mean way of diverting one's plans.
Where on earth have YOU been for the last 5 to 10 years? You need to wake up and start following the daily front-page headlines and lead news stories that have been shouting about the "housing bubble" and "mortgage crises" plaguing economies all around the world within the past few weeks and, in connection, destroying the life savings of those "not really investment-savvy" Americans who weren't even involved in real estate.
Clearly there were more than enough Americans, I'd say too many, who saw real estate as "THE" place to invest their money in recent years. Even people without money foolishly saw real estate as the pyramid scheme that it was to hopefully make a fortune due to loose credit standards and the herd mentality.
Why are you even on a Lottery message board giving real estate investment advice? Do you have a tanked property you're hoping to dump off on the next sucker to come along? I'm surprised you weren't dispensing more worthless comments that real estate is a great investment "opportunity" because property prices always go up in value like many so-called real estate "gurus" (i.e. modern day snake oil salesmen) have been brainwashing the gullible to believe over the years.
You didn't mention what part of your divided culture you come from. If you are from South Korea I'll gladly point out that your economy was ranked only 13th in the world last year among industrialized nations. South Korea isn't even a part of the G-7. I would also happily highlight that many rich Koreans made their wealth through corruption: http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSSP25001420070205
Of course if you hail from North Korea you really should keep your views to yourself. This wouldn't be a problem for you since you would be used to doing this anyway.
Thanks for reading!
I don't know what I'd do...but I know what my husband and I have talked about to make more jobs here in my town.
2 ideas so far..but the one I like the most is to open a more family style restaurant here (ei: Denny's. IHOP type) We don't have any at all. Just burgers and taco's which isn't bad, but I think we need to give people the option of a nice sit down homestyle meal.
We get a alot of travelers, truck drivers, and visiters who have to put up with fast food only. We have 3 hotels close to each other and only fast food to chose from. I know I'd love to wake up and go sit down to some bacon, eggs, hashbrowns.....the works.
smart couple, I would take the annuity too!! There's no reason I would need all of that $$$ at once, plus that way it would possibly deter some of the "Beggars" that heard you won the lottery from knocking on your door. I would say, well I only get an annuity and it's all tied up right now. but that's just me
I know about housing bubble and everything. I mean, real estate in the US is RELATIVELY less popular than in Korea.
Well, the average household income in Korea is about 1/3~1/4 of Americans. But the housing value is crazy. A middle class apartment in Seoul commands half a million USD to even 1.5 mil USD. (they sell apartments like houses.)
You know, I just love this couple. They sound real smart. Farming is the way to go. I think if I do anything, it will be farming also after I win. Organic vegies are a rare thing here. I could provide some to our local grocers. Growing a healthy garden is only hard work if you make it that way. I personally enjoy the outdoors anyway I can get it.
My husband is a farmer. Well...not full-time yet. His grandpa has been a farmer since he was like 2 back in Arkansas. He moved to Washington after he married and built his farm from the ground up. He says " hard work gets you want you want...I've never bought on credit, and I never will." Spoken like a true Southerner with a thick accent lol. Today, he's over 80 and would still be on a tractor if it wasn't for his lungs failing him. My husband is a carpenter by trade, but has been taking over the responsibilities of the farm. Something he's done since he was a kid, but more now that grandpa is not able to. He loves it, and says he was born to be a farmer. lol
His grandpa wants him to continue his farm after he's gone. A farming name pretty well known around here, and he can't wait to quit his job as a carpenter to be a full-time farmer. I asked him if he had plans to quit "after" I win my millions. He said I could win the biggest jackpot in lottery history, but he ain't going to give up his farming. lol
Its good to have a job of some sort after a win. I think it gives you some sense of occomplishment at the end of the day. I'd feel unsatisfied in a way if at the end of the day all I did was shop for clothes and other material stuff. Keeps you grounded. I hope they stay true to their decission and keep active!
I hope I can experience that someday...I might even learn how to drive the tractor!
I was an English teacher in Korea for three years and I think you're full of yourself.
1. You base your generalization of Koreans and rich Koreans from an article where they explain the scandals from a couple of richbusinessmen. Many rich businessmen around the world are the same way.
2. Korea is very small country with only 48,000,000 people; their economy and technology is extremely well when you realize how small they are.
3. There are no North Koreans in the USA. North Koreans rarely have any contact outside their country. If there are North Koreans inthe USA, then they would be labeled as Chinese because they probably escaped North Korea, then into China.
4. You are ignorant. I am Caucasian and the Koreans were one ofthe nicest people I have ever met in my life. Their country is extremely modernized and clean. Their technology and industrial power is amazing.
Congrats to this nice family!
I love the idea to farm, especially pecans. I had a pecan tree in my yard during college. It was great. An orchard has been on my list of things to occupy myself after winning the jackpot. Pecans, peaches, blackberries.
I want to do that to! I don't have room where I am at now, but I want to grow a bunch of fruit trees and other fruits and vegatables. I also want to have horses like I used to. One day.
Mmmm, blackberry jam :-)
Giving thanks at church but bought the ticket at the liquor store.
Well, are saying that drinking liquor is a sin? Maybe he went there just to buy lotto tickets? Actually, playing the lottery is also a sin in the Christian religion since it's a form of gambling.
You can buy soda and water in most liquor stores as well.
I don't expect that much intelligence from some of the posters here, for obvious reason. Not many well-educated people play lotteries, let alone posting in here.
Here's a clue... use it!
Aren't you the same guy who has been whining for two years that your dream numbers haven't come out and have contemplated suicide over it? Yet you have the nerve to put down other posters here.
Hey time*treat, I'll post some pictures in my blog tomorrow! She is a very rambunctious and happy kitty. She is such a sweetie though. Thanks for asking about her.
Yet, you're the one who keeps making topics whining about some dream you had years ago and it not coming true, apparently believing it has foretold your "future"....
Pot, kettle, black, ect.
A very unsurprising response.
First you postulate in absolute terms that "There are no North Koreans in the USA" but you don't cite any sources to back up this information. Did you conduct your own personal census of the United States? No, you haven't. And you know you can't speak with any confidence on this because you demonstrated your own doubts in this obvious opinion of yours by going on to qualify your remarks immediately by saying "If there are North Koreans in the USA..." You then make another baseless assumption saying "...then they would be labeled as Chinese..." Labeled as Chinese by whom? Themselves? The U.S. Government? The Chinese? Who would label these North Koreans as Chinese? It doesn't matter which direction they left North Korea. Again you offer no evidence to support anything you are saying.
You claim I made generalizations but you seem to have no trouble whatsoever with voicing double standards and making your own generalizations. You didn't even seem bothered that the original poster ambelamba made generalizations like "Heck 99% of rich Koreans made their fortune from real estate!" or how this same poster also dismissed Americans as "not really investment-saavy (sic)." Really? When people around the world talk and think about money and financial markets the name Wall Street - in the "not really investment-savvy" America - will be mentioned first and long before some backwater like Seoul is. And no, Wall Street wasn't founded by or made famous by the likes of ambelamba.
The poster ambelamba even went on to say "I don't expect that much intelligence from some of the posters here, for obvious reason. Not many well-educated people play lotteries, let alone posting in here." What sort of self-proclaimed genius is this person? If the smug ambelamba were so well-educated and investment savvy as he/she likes to be portrayed by passing insulting comments off on other people then there would be no reason for ambelamba to play the lottery or even make empty-headed postings on here attacking others.
And you SmoothJuice claim that you were a teacher and then have the nerve to call me ignorant? What a laugh! I have no doubt you felt very much at home in South Korea. You clearly were surrounded by like-minded people.